Dave and Issy Sheehan

DaveandIssy

Dave and Issy Sheehan

Former TravelPod Member: the.sheehan
Joined: June 22nd, 2015

We live in Melbourne, Australia, with our three offspring Scott, Emma and Troy, Coco the dog, and cats Sidney and Chilli. As at 2015 our offspring have all left school and should, in theory at least, be capable of fending for themselves, so as long as they don't kill each other or burn the house down, we can now happily trip off into the sunset.

Issy was born in Malta. She came to Australia with her family when she was four, and as at early 2015 she's never been back.

I was born in London to Australian parents who met on a cruise ship, got married in England, had me, and then turned around and came home. I come from a long line of enthusiastic travellers, and was fortunate to have travelled a lot when I was growing up. My maternal great grandfather was a published travel writer, and even managed to die on a ship cruising to Noumea way back in 1933.

Sniffer Pup in Training

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne » Essendon August 29th 2022

DaveandIssy

We awake to that inevitable sad day when we have to start the tortuously long 25 hour trip home. There seem to be a lot of fancy looking black limousines waiting outside our Athens hotel. We can’t tell who’s inside them, if anyone, because they’ve all got blacked out windows. Issy says they’re picking up businessmen to take them off to one of the many nearby sex shops or strip clubs. It’s ten o’clock on a Monday morning, so I would have thought that most businessmen should now be off doing their “business”, although I suppose that word could have a couple of different meanings in that context. We’re flying back to Melbourne via Doha in Qatar. We seem to have struck it lucky at Athens Airport with our airline, Qatar; the check in queue is ... read more

Not So Seedy After All?

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens August 28th 2022

Academy of Athens

DaveandIssy

We can’t quite believe that today’s the last full day of our nearly three month jaunt. Half of me wants to stay here in the heat of Europe. The other half wants to go home and see our loved ones, but only if someone’s remembered to turn up Melbourne’s thermostat. Issy wants to sit on a rug in a green park. We haven’t got a rug so we settle for a thin towel and head off for the National Garden which is a couple of kilometres north of the hotel, on the edge of the CBD. We think there may well be more stray cats here in Athens than people (ordinary people not stray people) and we come across yet another flock/herd/group next to a church at the south end of the Garden. We see a ... read more

Holy Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary

It seems the Acropolis is visible from nearly everywhere in Athens

They All Hate Us

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens August 27th 2022

Temple of Poseidon

DaveandIssy

Issy passed on yesterday’s tour of the Acropolis, which was understandable given it involved a lot of walking in the heat. I know she’s not into temples but I’m still determined that we not leave Athens without her seeing its biggest attraction. I thought we got here early but there’s still a long queue for tickets. We make our way up the lower slopes past the Theatre of Dionysus and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. Next stop is the human traffic jam that’s the narrow main entrance to the top. I didn’t think it was possible to get more crowded than it was yesterday, but I think it just might be. Issy didn’t seem too keen on coming here when we started our climb, and this pile up of humanity’s turned her right off. We make ... read more

Whatever You Do, Don’t Dig

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens » Pláka August 26th 2022

The Parthenon

DaveandIssy

This morning we’ve booked a ”mythological” tour of Athens’ highlights. I’m not sure exactly what this means, but Issy’s sensing a lot of ancient temples so elects to stay in bed. I’m a bit surprised she’s let me venture out on my own. She said last night that I shouldn’t go out after dark by myself given that we seem to be staying in the middle of the red light district. I wasn’t quite sure whether that was because she thought I might get mugged or because she was afraid I might “accidentally” get lured into one of the strip clubs. Anyway most of them seem to be closed at 8am this morning, not of course that I was taking all that much notice…… Our guide introduces himself as Evan. He says that this is short ... read more

Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Gorgoepikoos and Saint Eleutherios

Porch of the Maidens, Temple of Athena Polias

The Kinky Opera Live Show Theatre?

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens August 25th 2022

Changing of the Guard, Monument to the Unknown Soldier

DaveandIssy

We’re very sad to be leaving our paradise here on the beach in Naxos, but it’s time to move on. Today we fly to Athens, so it’s an early start. We’re sitting in the very front row of our propeller plane, so we get a close up view of the “Location of Emergency Equipment” plate on the wall right in front of us. And interesting reading it is too. It includes the location of the “Bomb Search Checklist”. I’m not sure whether this would be a list of places on the plane to check for bombs, or what to do if you find one. I suppose it’s good that they have this but I would have thought it might have been better to make really sure that there wasn’t a bomb on the plane in the ... read more

The Naxian Mysteries

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos August 24th 2022

Another classic sunset

DaveandIssy

Today might be our last chance for a full day of relaxation before we go home so we decide not to waste it. We pull up sunlounges next to the pool and then on the beach. It’s very overcast and it looks like it might have rained overnight. We don’t do anything so I don’t know what to write about, so intelligent readers should probably stop here. For the rest of you….. We’re fairly sure now that someone doesn’t come along every morning and fill in the large holes that get dug on the beach every day. We were going to dig an unusually shaped test hole and come back the next day to see whether it was still there, but the sand’s really hard and we both forgot to pack our spades when we left ... read more

Organised Chaos

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos August 23rd 2022

Filoti

DaveandIssy

We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do today, but after a day of doing absolutely nothing yesterday we’re both keen that it include at least some form of exercise. The church and archaeological museum in Naxos Castle were both closed when I made the steep climb up there a few days ago, so I decide to get my quota of exercise by trying again. Issy says she’s going to leave me to it and get her quota by indulging in some shopping down in the town. Apart from going to the supermarket, the only shopping I do on a regular basis is late in the evening on Christmas Eve. This requires sprinting between stores to try to find what I’m looking for, which is usually made more difficult by me having no idea what ... read more

Most Houses Here Have Forty TV Aerials?

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos August 22nd 2022

Naxos accommodation

DaveandIssy

It was a big day yesterday so we’re a bit slow off the mark this morning. We spend the day doing very little other than lying by the pool and on the beach, so I take the opportunity to read up a bit more about Naxos. Greek mythology has it that Zeus, the father of the gods, was raised here on Naxos. In the real world the ever reliable Wikipedia tells us that there’s evidence of neanderthal activity here from as early as 200,000 years ago. From the seventh and eighth centuries BC Naxos dominated commercial activity in the Cyclades, and was described by one sixth century BC historian as being the most prosperous of all the Greek islands. Like much of this part of the world it eventually came under Byzantine rule, and then in ... read more

The Pirates Came from Where?

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos August 21st 2022

Apeiranthos village

DaveandIssy

Today we’ve booked a full day “Highlights of Naxos” bus tour. Our guide introduces himself as Dimitri and his driver as Vasili, which I guess dispels any doubts we might have had about them not being genuine Greeks. As we head up one of the fertile valleys towards the island’s mountainous interior, Dimitri points out a field of potatoes which he says is one of the island’s main crops. He says that Naxos potatoes are an essential ingredient of one of the island’s delicacies, the Naxos Fried Potato, and the potatoes for this dish have to come from Naxos. Now I’ve always been partial to a good spud. I thought I’d found the perfect potato dish when I first tasted Naxos Fried Potato a few nights ago, and I was salivating at the thought of cooking ... read more

Let’s Order the “Yoghurt (Unpleasant)”

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Naxos August 20th 2022

Plaka Beach

DaveandIssy

Today we’re planning to catch the bus to Plaka Beach which is on the island’s west coast about ten kilometres south of Naxos Town. We’ve learned all of about three words of Greek since we got here, and it seems that we‘ve not even done that particularly well, or in this case should I say I’ve not done that particularly well. The Greek word for good morning is “kalimera”, well I think it is, but as I pass one of the hotel staff I bumble out “calamari”. At least she has the good grace to just smile and respond with the correct version of the greeting. Issy’s meanwhile trying to pretend she’s with someone else. We make our way round to the bus station next to the port. We were expecting to be sitting in an ... read more

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